Page 139 of The Lincoln Lawyer

I put my briefcase down on the defense table and wondered if the fact that Minton was setting up for his closing argument meant he had decided against mounting any kind of rebuttal. A sharp jab of panic went through me. I looked over at the state’s table and saw nothing that gave me a clue to what Minton was planning. I knew I could flat out ask him but I did not want to give away my appearance of disinterested confidence.

Instead, I sauntered over to the bailiff’s desk to talk to Bill Meehan, the deputy who ran Fullbright’s court. I saw on his desk a spread of paperwork. He would have the courtroom calendar as well as the list of custodies bused to the courthouse that morning.

“Bill, I’m going to grab a cup of coffee. You want something?”

“No, man, but thanks. I’m set on caffeine. For a while, at least.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Hey, is that the custody list? Can I take a look and see if any of my clients are on it?”

“Sure.”

Meehan handed me several pages that were stapled together. It was a listing by name of every inmate that was now housed in the courthouse’s jails. Following the name was the courtroom each prisoner was headed to. Acting as nonchalant as I could I scanned the list and quickly found the name Dwayne Jeffery Corliss on it. Minton’s snitch was in the building and was headed to Fullbright’s court. I almost let out a sigh of relief but kept it all inside. It looked like Minton was going to play things the way I had hoped and planned.

“Something wrong?” Meehan asked.

I looked at him and handed back the list.

“No, why?”

“I don’t know. You look like something happened, is all.”

“Nothing’s happened yet but it will.”

I left the courtroom and went down to the cafeteria on the second floor. When I was in line paying for my coffee I saw Maggie McPherson walk in and go directly to the coffee urns. After I paid I walked up behind her as she was mixing powder from a pink packet into her coffee.

“Sweet ’N Low,” I said. “My ex-wife used to tell me that’s how she liked it.”

She turned and saw me.

“Stop, Haller.”

But she smiled.

“Stop, Haller, or I’ll holler,” I said. “She used to have to say that, too. A lot.”

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be up on six getting ready to pull the plug on Minton’s PowerPoint?”

“I’m not worried. In fact, you ought to come up and check it out. Old school versus new school, a battle for the ages.”

“Hardly. By the way, isn’t that the same suit you were wearing yesterday?”

“Yeah, it’s my lucky suit. But how do you know what I was wearing yesterday?”

“Oh, I popped my head in Fullbite’s court for a couple minutes yesterday. You were too busy questioning your client to notice.”

I was secretly pleased that she would even notice my suits. I knew it meant something.

“So, then, why don’t you pop your head in again this morning?”

“Today I can’t. I’m too busy.”

“What’ve you got?”

“I’m taking over a murder one for Andy Seville. He’s quitting to go private and yesterday they divided up his cases. I got the good one.”

“Nice. Does the defendant need a lawyer?”